What you are about to read is my story, my journey, my destination, and my heaven on earth. I have been a secular Discalced Carmelite since the spring of 1988, living in the world, and spending the last 49 years as either a social worker or teaching in Catholic...
How you support your priest depends on how well you know your priest. There are, of course, things priests universally or generally appreciate—like prayers or a mug that says “Don’t make me put you in one of my homilies”—but as lay people, we have a responsibility to...
For many people, the priest is the one whom people go to for their spiritual needs, for prayer requests, for Mass offerings, and other sacraments. Have you ever wondered how a priest is sustained spiritually for the work they do? Should we be praying for a priest as...
I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day and he asked me where my fourteen-year-old son was at with his discernment of the priesthood. He wanted to know what I was doing to encourage him to be open to this vocation. My initial response was….to cringe. ...
I hope this finds you well. Before we get into the particulars, please allow me to take a brief moment to simply affirm you … right here, right now. Thank you for stepping up to coach. It often goes unrecognized but to coach means to make a decision: to lead others,...
Fifty years is a lifetime for most people. Fifty years in the same profession is almost incomprehensible in the modern age. Priesthood, however, is not a career. It is a vocation, and one that a priest takes seriously. As a lifelong commitment, it is akin to marriage,...
Very few films have captured the cloistered life. Typically, those who are vowed behind enclosure do not wish to have their life broadcasted to the world. Perhaps the last popular film was Into Great Silence, and if memory serves, it took months, if not several...
God is calling your child to be a saint. But how? Which vocation will He lead them to? Teaching your children to listen to God’s call in their lives and uncover how He wants them to love and to serve Him in this world is a great gift. There are a few simple things we...
Every day, we face numerous choices, many of eternal consequences. When our hearts and minds are ordered toward God, these choices are usually between two goods. We could read to our children, or pray the rosary. We could spend Saturday afternoon...
In a world that demands grit and guts, men are called upon to lead, not just in their workplaces but also within their homes. It's a journey laden with challenges and triumphs. Qualities like integrity, communication, and adaptability are more than soft skills....
There are really two camps when it comes to discernment. On the one side, some believe that discernment is discovering what is the will of God so they can do it, and on the other side, some believe essentially that a person’s vocation is just a free-willed response to...
The moment when we start to ask and pray, "What is God calling me to do?" in regard to a religious vocation can be intimidating. However, discovering the vocation that God has intended for each of us is something marvelous. It's truly wonderful... but that doesn't...
As Mother’s Day approaches, if you have a house full of kids, like I did ten years ago, you may be trying to keep expectations low. You doubt as to whether your loved ones will show you appreciation in any significant way on this day traditionally devoted to honoring...
One of the best and most challenging aspects of the Church is that it is composed entirely of humans, who are flawed and fallible, with their own perspectives, experiences, strengths, and weaknesses. As a result, disagreements between individuals can arise, and this...
Four years ago, my future seemed clear to me. I thought I’d spend my days living in small-town Minnesota and ministering to country parishes as their priest. I love my home state, and I love the people there very much, but God had other plans. After...
In addition to giving her life in service to God and the education of young people, Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, BVM is a March Madness icon. In 1994 she became the chaplain for the Loyola University basketball team and has been a constant presence at the team's...
It was December 24th, 2019, and I was on my way to Rochester, Minnesota to serve at the Christmas Vigil Mass at our co-Cathedral for my Bishop, John Quinn. I showed up early to get things set up, but I was distracted like a teenage boy trying to clean his room. My...
These last twelve days for me as a British subject have been very strange ones. We have continued our ordinary lives, while all about us in the public sphere, momentous and solemn things have happened. The death of our Queen, the instantaneous transferral of symbolic...
I find that the term “spiritual warfare” often makes me think it’s more dramatic and epic than it actually is. I think of saints doing heroic penances and exorcists fighting off demons, but truly spiritual warfare is often a subtle battle the devil wages against us to...
Would you describe yourself as perfectly happy? Perhaps you’d say you are somewhat happy or happy enough, but not especially so. We often get the general impression that lasting happiness is far-off, practically impossible, not to be hoped for in this life. When we...
No little baby needs a ‘trigger warning’, not even a baby lost to miscarriage. But I do want to give a note here that I cover some very gritty realities of miscarriage in the following article, especially discussing burial...
Since Pope Francis became pope, the way of life and the spirituality of Franciscans have received closer attention. With the pope’s announcement of the Year of St. Joseph, there has been even more focus on the spiritual life of...
God, I’ll do anything you want, just don’t ask me to be a Sister (or a Priest)! That was the first thing both of us thought when we found ourselves pursuing God’s plan for our lives. We were ready to do something radical and bring Christ’s love to a needy world, but...
It doesn’t take long when first discovering the world of natural family planning to realize that most couples have a love/hate relationship with NFP. The reasons to love it are obvious and the reasons to hate it are obvious. It is a strange mix of sweet...
Did you know that studies consistently show that 70% of the newly ordained first heard the call to the priesthood between birth and 18 years of age? (1) At the risk of stating the obvious, these are the prime educational years for faith formation. Children should...
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Tip: These make amazing Catholic Christmas Gifts too!